What External Pedals Are You Using With your Axe-Fx?

webmaestro

webmaestro

Member
So, I'm fascinated by the proliferation of cool guitar pedals out there. But, having always owned rack fx units, I haven't used a physical guitar pedal since I was a teenager--over 20 years ago. Why would I need to? My Axe-Fx has every sound I could possibly need, right?

Well, that aside, lately I've been itching to try some pedals in my Axe-Fx chain. I don't really NEED pedals--I'm totally happy with all the sounds my Axe-Fx provides. For some reason though, I've just become very "pedal curious" lately.

Are any of you using external pedals with your Axe-Fx? If so, which ones and why? Do you like these pedals because you find the sound superior for a particular effect... or just different in a good way? I'm also curious if certain pedals seem to mesh really well with certain Axe-Fx amps and whatnot.
 
I tried a few pedals on my XL+, first off a Maxon 808, after a few minutes I could get the excat sound from a built in overdrive pedal, same for my Angry Charlie, I forget which overdrive inside the Axe I used but I could get probably 95% of the same sound without the need for extra power supply and cables, for my application external pedals are just not worth it. All depends if you have a pedal you just cant live without or theres nothing close in the AxeFX.
 
I tried several since I had my old pedalboard laying around with mostly boutique stuff. It was hard to part with that stuff. At first.

Pedals tried (I'll forget some) - FullDrive 2 and 3; Fulltone Plimsoul; Fulltone Fat Boost; xotic BB Plus; CMAT Mods SignaComp; Keeley Comp (2 button); Tech 21 Boost/Comp; Lovepedal Amp 11 and Eternity; Wampler Escstasy; modded Boss SD-1; modded Boss CS-3; EHX Soul Food; I'm sure there were more.

I did learn the Axe-Fx takes pedals very well. And I did learn that they weren't worth the hassle and the "pedals" inside the box are quite amazing. So all have been sold without regret. Still, I had to try them for myself.
 
I've got a couple tubescreamer style boosts that I like to use sometimes, give me a different flavor and feel.
 
I have an MXR Bonamassa FET drive I use often..
For whatever reason it makes some of the amp models come alive...
Not that some of the drives in the AXE don't do that - I just prefer how my pedal sounds and feels...
 
Little Lehle, Polytune Mini 2 and sometimes EP Booster.

EDIT: and sometimes Mel9.
 
Last edited:
I use the Mel9 and the Pitchfork, both by EXH. Both are in the loop of my Ax8. The Mel9 of course is superb if you are into adding those 70's mellotron sounds (which I am) and I typically use the Pitchfork set to momentary to add (poly) pitch shifting weirdness to parts.
 
Digitech Freqout, in the loop, for feedback effects at the press of a button. With all the other effects and routings options there are some crazy things you can do with this pedal, like Gilmour "seagulls" and more
 
Digitech Drop with my FX8 It does the drop tuning thing simpler (debatably better) than the Fractal and with 0% CPU load on the FX8.

I also have a BigSky. I like the Cloud Reverb machine and having the Reverb external moves a CPU heavy block out of the unit. I suspect you could custom build any of the reverbs in the BigSky by using multiple block types (for example, reverb, multi delay, and harmonizer) but that could chew up a lot of space and CPU.

Finally, a Ditto looper. Since the Reverb is placed after the FX8 and before the amps FX returns, if I want the BigSky in the looper, the looper has to come after the BigSky.

Edit: Also a Morningstar MC6 MIDI controller but that really doesn't count in this context. :)
 
I currently use a Line6 M5, a Digitech WH-1 Whammy and a Boss DF-2 and a DD-7. The M5 sits in the Axe FX loop, and I use it mostly for the Particle Verb, which the Axe can't do, and the Sweep Echo, which the Axe just doesn't so as lush. The others are in front of the Axe. I mostly use the whammy in the Axe, but there are a few tricks the WH-1 can do that the Axe can't. The DD-7 I use mostly for looping, and the DF-2 I use for its sustained feedbacking.

I would like to use a few extra dirt pedals as I'm not satisfied with the fuzz pedals inside the Axe and would like to run a couple in the Axe FX loop. But that would require a looper, and controlling that looper via the MFC. Which so far I've not yet managed to do.
 
Couldn't live without this.

ibanez-lm7-la-metal-distortion-guitar-effects-pedal-pd-0535-d4cd962dc905f895220789d881fbdb58.jpg
 
webmaestro said:
Are any of you using external pedals with your Axe-Fx? If so, which ones and why? Do you like these pedals because you find the sound superior for a particular effect... or just different in a good way? I'm also curious if certain pedals seem to mesh really well with certain Axe-Fx amps and whatnot.
Click to expand...

The only two pedals I've ever used in front of my XL+ are 1) Crybaby Wah, and 2) Zvex Fuzz Factory. I still haven't learned how to set the AXE's wah to sound like the Crybaby. Many hours trying. The Zvex is so I can nail the tone from Smash Mouth's "Walkin' On The Sun." Cover band requirement; it's a total pain just for one song.

I do sometimes feel the bug to try some pedals just to see. Keep us updated!
 
Okay, so what I gather from all this is that I'm not really missing out by using JUST the Axe-Fx, which is kinda what I suspected. This seems especially true of the bread-and-butter pedals like overdrive, distortion, chorus, etc. The Axe-Fx just does those things as good or better than any physical pedal.

To give you a specific example, there are a couple distortion pedals I've been curious about such as the Palladium, EVH 5150 Overdrive, and a few others. However, my guess is that there really isn't anything those pedals can do that the Axe-Fx can't already do (or do better).
 
Not that I need it but I've added these pedals to my home setup.
Gtr --> CAE Boost --> ADA Pedalboard Flanger --> Whammy DT --> Banshee II Talk Box

The Clean boost/Line driver really helps IMO, I can balance various guitars (and increase gain on the fly)
ADA PBF, I've tried, the AxeFx cannot replicate.
Whammy DT - Although I'm certain the AxeFx can do anything this pedal does, this frees up CPU AND when I'm transposing I can change presets while in the transposed pitch.
Banshee II Talk Box - Nothing can replicate a real talkbox effect (My VL3X sure comes close with its Vocoder algorithm though)
 
Rexgtr said:
Not that I need it but I've added these pedals to my home setup.
Gtr --> CAE Boost --> ADA Pedalboard Flanger --> Whammy DT --> Banshee II Talk Box

The Clean boost/Line driver really helps IMO, I can balance various guitars (and increase gain on the fly)
ADA PBF, I've tried, the AxeFx cannot replicate.
Whammy DT - Although I'm certain the AxeFx can do anything this pedal does, this frees up CPU AND when I'm transposing I can change presets while in the transposed pitch.
Banshee II Talk Box - Nothing can replicate a real talkbox effect (My VL3X sure comes close with its Vocoder algorithm though)
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's sounding like people who do use pedals tend to use the more unique specialty pedals--stuff that the Axe either doesn't do, doesn't do well, or effects that eat up a lot of CPU. But, it doesn't sound like I'll gain anything (sonically) by introducing pedals like distortion, chorus, flange, reverb, etc.

I've never had a problem hitting my CPU limit either, so that's not a motivator for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom